Powder Question
 

There is always a lot of debate and opinion over which powder is best. We have a lot of reasons why one powder is better in our opinion then another. So I wanted to explore this.

Cleaning of the powder after shooting
Cost per pound of the powder
Performance of the powder IE; feet per second the powder can produce, consistency of shot to shot, second shot loading .. etc
Swabbing between shots
Crud ring and hardness of fouling
Accuracy
Corrosion concerns

So tell me the powder you use. And what influenced you to select that powder over all others out there on the market. Also if you can remember, what other powders have you tried and decided they were not for you, and why.

My powder is Goex. Good ignition, accuracy is consistant, and the price is right. (I buy in bulk) As far as clean up, All powders leave a residue, and I like to give my ML's a water bath before putting away. I am very fussy about cleaning, and if I have to take a little extra time to disassemble my ML to do this, it's worth it to me. Actually I enjoy it. All powders are corrosive, some more than others, so clean up afterwards is a must, no matter what powder. In the past I have tried Pyrodex, APP, Pinnacle, Clearshot, and 777. I have not used BH209.

Lordy, here we go... :)

I'm guessing at least 10 pages... :)

I use real black powder Goex to be specific...I started using muzzleloaders before the others were a gleam in the chemist's eye...

I have tried Pyrodex and 777 in my Knight, Pryodex because I bought it for $7 a pound and 777 because I wanted to try it...The crud ring on 777 was too much for me to deal with and frankly I didn't find either it or Pyrodex any cleaner or easier to clean than FFF Goex...

Goex is cheaper and easy for me to get because there is a distributor just west of Winston so I buy direct...

I have to have Goex around for my .40 and .54 flinter...With 80grs of Goex FFF in my Knight I can sight in 2 1/2 high at 100 yards and be about 2 1/2 low at 150 so it shoots plenty flat for deer hunting out to 150 which is where most of my deer are killed anyway...

Goex is very easy to clean, plug the vent, pour a few ounces of water down the barrel and you just poured out most of your crud...Dry with patches, repeat and oil the bore...

So, it's cheaper, easy to clean has plenty of power for most hunting situations and as accurate as any powder we have...As far as corrosion, no problem if you know how to clean properly...In addition, as long as you store it in a cool, dry place it has indefinate shelf life...

I really don't understand why anything else was even invented, much less sold at the ridiculous prices some of this stuff brings... :) :) :)

My main powder that I shoot is black powder. It could be Goex, Graf's & Sons or Swiss. I will not shoot Elephant Black Powder. I shoot that in almost 90% of my shooting. You all understand, I shoot a lot of powder off in a year, in a lot of rifles, so I do use different powders from time to time.

Why Black Powder...


#1 cost effective. Bought in bulk it is one of the cheapest to shoot, with Pyrodex RS being a close second.

#2 Accuracy with black powder is outstanding most of the time. When I get a rifle that will not behave, the first powder I grab off the shelf is 2f black powder. If I can not get the rifle to shoot with that, I know I am going to have a problem.

#3 very consistent on the range shot to shot.

#4 Swabbing.. its easy to swab and in traditional rifles I can shot sometimes 20 shots without swabbing. At least 10 is common. In the inlines of course, because of the projectiles we shoot I do find for accuracy reasons I need to swab. But shooting roundball, accuracy is not so badly effected.with black powder the fouling and crud ring (if any) is very soft. A spit patch or alcohol patch will pull it quickly out of the barrel and have be back shooting ASAP.

#5 Performance...While it is not the most powerful powder on the market, performance is excellent. Ignition is excellent. And I think a lot of the hype of this one will push it 200 ft faster per second is all a selling tool. If not so, why does a conical bullet have the killing power it does at 1100 fps?

#6 Cleaning... I do not find black powder rifles hard to clean. Granted they might stink a little. But water will clean them, and do it fast. Normally with in ten patches I have the rifle clean. And I am never in a hurry to clean a rifle. I take my time. I get it right. Black powder and me just seem to get along when it comes to cleaning. I know there are other powders out there that clean easier. But I don't like to ever consider cleaning as a reason to choose one powder over another.

Other powders I have tried... Blackhorn 209 (very good powder, expensive, and hard to find), JSG 3f (good in revolvers), APP 2f & 3f (good in some rifles, terrible in others), Triple Seven 2f & 3f (a very good powder, powerful, hate the crud ring), Pyrodex RS & P (a great powder, would be right up there with black powder. A favorite powder to shoot), Pinnacle 2f & 3f ( I liked this powder but it is impossible to get), Clear Shot (was ok to shoot, but nothing to get excited about. Bought a case of it on a close out, and so it was cheap), Clean Shot (I think this is the old APP. Again, it was good in some rifles), Black Mag (a good powder. It shot well, was easy to clean. Expensive, and hard to find.. but I liked this powder).

For me Goex meets my needs the best. I prefer to clean with water and I like the low cost of Goex and the consistency from shot to shot. I also like the easy ignitiuon of real black powder. I have yet to try Swiss but I have heard great things about it. I also use triple 7 and like it. In some hunting situations I might go with triple 7 because it is a little more forgiving if I can't clean the gun immediately.
Overall, I go with Goex most of the time.
Art

Here we go again. I shoot two types of ML's. Inline and sidelocks. I have settled on what I use in each type of gun. I've tried every powder on the market and past market. I use only what i'm going to list, because all the rest wasn't as good to me.

Sidelock (cap and flint)

Swiss 2F

I use only Hawken style guns with easily removable barrels.

Put breech in bucket of soapy water, and pump water through barrel for a few minutes. Nipple removed.

Dump soapy water out and fill with clear HOT water with a little Ballistol in it to prevent flash rusting. Pump for a few minutes. Dry barrel with patches, and then coat bore with straight Ballistol. No rust ever with this method.


Inlines.

BH 209 only.

Clean bore with Butch's Bore Shine.

Pretty simple.




Thoughts on other powders.

T7....Crud ring nightmare
ePyrodex....Clumpy..Begins to lose power as soon as the bottle is opened. Has no business in a sidelock, and can't compare to BH 209 in an inline.

APP/JSG.....Junk. Inconsistent kitty litter.

White Hots..Elk crap pellets. No thanks. Not legal in Co.

Goex and Schuetzen..... Good powders for sidelocks. Just not as good as Swiss.


Yes, i'm an strong opinionated old fart.

Goex and Swiss in the flint-er
Pyrodex in the Hawkins [both] and the Renegade
Blackhorn 209 in all the inlines
Have used 777 the crud ring was a nightmare. the only time I did not enjoy shooting
Tried several different versions of APP weakest powder there is and every once in a while I got a can that shot all over the target.
Would use more black but it is very hard for me to get, I find Pyrodex a good sub for percussion sidelock guns.

Pyrodex in the renegade and wolverine, shoot conicals in both. used 777 for quite awhile in the Triumph, crud ring was terrible, switched to Bh209. for overall performance in modern inlines, BH 209 is the ticket. sidelocks and plunger style rifles, it's pyrodex all the way.i am using a 15 yr old jug of pyrodex and the POI is the same as the new jug i recently bought.only change i might make is going to pyrodex P when i run out the standard pyrodex. Ray

For the powders I only shoot BH209 in my inline (TC Bone Collector). For my sidelocks I started off using Pyro RS and have no problems with it. However with recently buying a flintlock I bought Goex. Shot Goex for the first time today and I really didn't see the difference compared to Pyro. So I'll probably start shooting Goex in all my sidelocks.

Cleaning isn't that hard if you take the time. I'm the few that doesn't use soap and water though. I have had no problems with T17 cleaning products. They may take alittle longer but less mess. Also for a little tip. If you use GUN SCRUBBER it really cleans out the nipple and the snail part!

Cost: Blackhorn is expensive but I love it too much to give up in my inline. Goex and Pyro is about the same for me. But Goex takes the pie with FFFFG for my flintlock.

Performance: Goex, BH209, Pyro. Work great and I dont have the swab atleast until the 3rd or 4th shoot. BH209 I don't swab. No crud ring really to complain about.

Accuracy: Great with all three powders.

Corrosion: Havnt seen anything yet. I do worry that Goex maybe more corrosive then Pyro. But I havnt seen it yet, just heard lots of stories.

They only other powder I've used is 777. And I hated it. Talk about dirty dirty and crud ring. Goex is like pure water compared to that stuff.

It's been proven that's not true with Pyro. You're in denial.;)

In 6 mo it will lose 300fps.